Yeah very different guys, Taira and Taura but yes both play same character. Thanks for posting the youtube link Nohoho.

Man, what a tournament qualifier last Saturday at Shirone CHANCE! Unfortunately no DVD was recorded (maybe an agreement with the magazine? not sure why, and I couldn't even get a DVD from the latest footage from their dvd drive).

OK so KKY (dhalsim) shows up, along with his friend Kikai who plays Guile. I got a chance to play him a few games before the tournament, only managing to snag a few rounds. I really don't like dhalsim vs. dhalsim much, but maybe what I need to get out drills better. Suzuki had one or two wins, at least one was a perfect.

I teamed up with BUY (dictator, btw he spelled my name as S-PER on the form, anyway that's me), and the tournament starts... we are in KKY's bracket, A. Suzuki and Taura are in B, along with a visiting team from Nagoya, a Blanka player(akasomethingsomethingsomething)and a chun li player, both very good. Bracket C didn't have as many top players but still had lots of good matches. Anyway we play Taka's team, the boxer player who I always usually lose to in tournaments, except the last one we faced each other, but he perfected me this time- fortunately BUY came to our rescue and won our match. We lost to KKY's team, however, Taka beat KKY! (single-handedly, cause Taka's teammate didn't seem anywhere near his level.) His boxer was on a roll, just tagging, boom, boom... early in the first round vs. KKY, KKY started with successive hits, but Taka comes out with a turn-around punch to make up for it, and just rides that momentum. Unfortunately, Taka's only other lost was to us, and they had to play each other again in a tie. Taka was up for this, and had everyone's attention- he was just bangin out hits and winning rounds... he beat Kikai again, and got KKY to the last round. That's when KKY got into his defense and played his conservative style and gained an early lead that he kept that last round. Very big let down but a good showing, and there was still the finals. I think there was a 3-way tie in bracket B, with Taura and Suzuki (Hawk) winning to beat out the Nagoya Blanka/Chun pair. In the finals, The pairing off didn't fare well for the home-team- Taura faced KKY and lost, then Suzuki had to face Guile... it was close but he didn't get in enough. He was disappointed afterwards, saying he messed up.

btw in my match with KKY, I went up against him after BUY lost to Kikai. I don't think I won a round, but the last round came right down to pixels. Also I flubbed a move badly... he got dizzy and I tried charging meter with up(kick) flame but a standing short kick came out instead and I just hear everyone go "ooooooooo". Well, at least I didn't get a JUMP like I'm prone to these days when I miss a move. :) Also, I had no worries about his boy's Guile! Actually I probably would have felt a lot of pressure. But he didn't want none a this. After it was all over, KKY shared his grand prize- same huge package of candy like Shougatsu got in Oct. So I graciously got some corn portage- and natto-flavored Doraemon snack things... still haven't tried one yet though. Oh yeah, and it's not expired... thanks to all the preservatives, it's good until August 15th! I had a nice big dinner downstairs, and then came back to aftermatches for like a 10 game win streak. After that I had to get back.

Anyway Taka's da man, dude is my new hero. After tournaments, he's that guy that, you know, like you look around after the tourny's all over, you've been eliminated for like an hour or more, waiting for your next game, and you see someone else who realizes the tournament machine's still on freeplay and NO ONE'S PLAYING, and he's the only other guy that's thinking the same thing so you're both like ok one more match here....

I forgot to check the Tougeki site until today. Here is the link to the results page for our qualifier: http://www.tougeki.com/prelim?id=1301 I'm in the green jacket standing there in the first picture. If you click on the yellow text beneath it for pic2, the stage cabinet is shown with Suzuki Hawk on the right playing against the winner of the C bracket. Taura's in the purple sweatshirt. btw KKY's partner's kanji looks like Kamedo(? or is that a place name and his name is Kikai? I'm not sure).